Back to life after the good break, children back in school so we are busy inventing clever school lunches, life is a lot about food here. Slow settling, tentative footing, knitting all different strands of life together, good food helping soothing raw nerves.

Bank collapsing into house so we are busy pick-axing and shovelling heavy stony daub, leitrim finest, to keep timber-paper-straw house from self-composting. We have been seriously worrying about this landslide for a couple of months but were not sure how to do it, too vast and daunting to feel we could do it by hand, too close to the house for machinery… Until I realized that the digging here would provide me with the necessary clay for building the oven in knockvicar (part of my artist residency there) and this lovely exchange of necessities, removal here, building there gave me the impetus needed to get started. So here we are L and I with boots sinking in and handles of shovels, spades and pick axe, slipping out of grip, in our clay bath.

Tomorrow is kneading and baking, a rest of sorts.